Tecno Phantom V Fold review

Design, build quality, handling

It's a foldable, alright, the Phantom V Fold, but we can't help but start our look into its design from the one quarter of its surface that's not a display. The seemingly random-textured fiber-like finish of the back panel is unique to Tecno and we're liking it just as much here as we did on the Phantom X2 Pro.

It's plastic in its essence, which isn't an issue in itself. In fact, it does feel rather premium, offers a reasonable amount of grip, and doesn't pick up fingerprints. You can call us fans.

Of course, the Black colorway of our V Fold review unit is nowhere as loud as the Mars Orange X2 Pro we had for review, and that's probably for the better - the incognito paintjob suits the Fold. That said, there's a white alternative too, which does look pretty appealing too, though we can understand how the copper-colored frame might be polarizing.

White colorway

Similarly not to everyone's taste is the camera island on the back, though the reviewer writing these words doesn't find it one bit objectionable. A Star Wars fan at the office pointed out a resemblance to the Death Star and we can see where he's coming from. In any case, much like the choice of color, the V Fold is a lot more restrained in its rear styling than the X2 pair, camera cluster included. High marks for looks, we'd say.

Flipping over to the front, the cover OLED display is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus, the bezels are decently thin, and the punch-hole for the selfie camera is tiny - there's nothing 'budget' about any of that.

The 21.3:9 aspect ratio and the 6.42-inch diagonal of the display make it infinitely more usable than the one on the Galaxy Z Fold4, but by now, you've probably heard us say that a dozen times - literally every other large foldable has a better cover screen than the Samsung when it comes to proportions.

V Fold (left) next to Z Fold4

The V Fold has a lot of exposed aluminum around its perimeter, and the gray frame on our black unit is treated to a satin finish. The bottom half is home to both physical buttons (in contrast to the Honor Magic Vs), and they both click positively. The capacitive fingerprint reader in the power button worked flawlessly with either the right thumb or the left index finger.

It's more of a nuanced experience opening the V Fold. The combination of rather powerful magnets, strong hinge, flat and somewhat slippery frame and little room to wedge your fingertips in, makes unfolding the Fold a little bit of a fiddly task. Of course, that's firmly in the nitpicking category, and since you're going to be using it with both hands anyway, applying some deliberate effort to open it isn't a huge deal.

Once opened, the V Fold doesn't actually fully unfold to a flat state. As in, the two halves still have to maintain an angle between them as opposed to being in one plane. Is that what the V in the name alludes to?

Mind you, it's all very subtle, and at no point are you actually feeling like the device hasn't unfolded fully, it's just something you notice when you go looking for it.

It's sort of a similar story with the display crease. This one is more of a gentle wave than a crease, per se - it's closer to the Oppo Find N2's flatness than it is to the almost-groove on the Galaxy Z Fold4. We'd say it's smoother than the Magic Vs', too.

An unusual hardware peculiarity on the Phantom that we hadn't seen is the faint corrugation of the display along the central axis. You can't see it in use by any means, nor can you feel it. But if you kill the lights on the display and look at the tablet at the right angle, you can spot it.

A lot of the above can be filed under curious observations and doesn't necessarily have practical implications. What does, however, is the hinge's aversion to any state that's not fully open or fully closed. That means no niceties for camera-related use cases like tripod mode or waist-level shooting. Oh, well. It does fold with no gap between the sides, so there's that.

V Fold (left) next to Z Fold4

The Phantom V Fold is one of the heaviest full-size foldables on the market, certainly the heaviest to leave China. At 299g, it's tangibly heftier than the Galaxy's 263g or the glass-backed version of the Magic Vs' 267g. You'd better wear a belt with those pants.